The Murray River Culinary Challenge is an annual competition for VET Hospitality students throughout the Murray River region. The challenge is highly regarded by the hospitality industry as an opportunity to mentor and encourage young aspiring chefs to work in the industry.

The Murray River Culinary Challenge is an industry standard cooking competition for secondary school students enrolled in a Vocational Education and Training (VET) Hospitality Training Package.

The Challenge spans five regions and will involve more than 180 students attending 23 schools from Echuca, Shepparton, Swan Hill, Wangaratta and Wodonga districts.

The Murray River Culinary Challenge is a three tiered competition. At the school level, students compete individually to vie for a spot in the Regional Final. The two top scoring students from each school are paired and compete as a team in the Regional Final, the top scoring team then progressing to the Grand Final. Menus in each level of the competition become progressively more difficult and are designed for students to be able to demonstrate their skills learnt during their hospitality training.

The competition is judged by top industry representatives from the regions who donate their time and expertise.

The main aims of The Murray River Culinary Challenge are to promote Vocational Education and Training (VET) in schools, promote hospitality as a career pathway, and better align secondary school hospitality training with industry requirements.

The culinary challenge is a partnership program with LLENs and Structured Workplace Learning Programs in Swan Hill, Shepparton, Echuca, Wodonga and Wangaratta.